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Apr 1, 2014

Andipputtu- A traditional malabar cashewnut palaharam

Another episode of Sinusitis,and I was off from the blogosphere and everything I loved, to fight it with all my might. Alhamdulillah! Allah has cured me like always.. But during the course, I have learned a few tips to tackle it.
One of the most effective things I found was drinking water; and plenty of it.It is more effective than any mucolyte available on earth! When the mucolytes and antibiotics didn't give any apparent comfort from the gnawing headache, I googled for what else to do. The answer was,'Drink plenty of water'.And I began filling myself with water like a water tank from dawn to dusk :)
But it worked like wonder!
The headache began to subside slowly and I felt more at ease and energetic.
If you guys have any other tips to fight recurrent sinusitis, please let me know.. I'm all ears!!

So what did I do when I had these attacks! I got involved in making some traditional goodies to take my mind away from the hurting head. Andipputtu is a 'palaharam' which I grew up with right from my early childhood. Those days, when it was vacation time in the summer, we kids used to go picking the cashew nuts from the trees in our ancestral orchard. We would have our fill of munching the sweet and tart cashew fruits and after that collect the cashew nuts from under the ripe fruits. We used to bring them to our granny, who after drying them in shade for a few days would eventually roast them in the firewood oven. I still remember that sweet aroma which wafts up into the air while the cashew nuts are being roasted. And we kids used to look in awe keeping a distance from the mud oven as the cashew nuts make cracking sounds from inside and a few would come flying out as it burst.

After they get fully roasted, granny would call us to help her crack open the shells of the cashews. We would take some rounded stones and start smashing the shells with them and pick the nuts carefully from inside the cracked shells. Many of the nuts collected thus would go into our tummys there and then because they were so irresistible. The leftover nuts would be used for making 'andipputtu' which was a masterpiece in itself.
Granny and her helpers used to grind them with roasted rice grains, 'sharkkara' and grated coconut in an 'ural' which was the food processor of that time. I'm sure, our kids would never know what it is, if they saw one in any of the old 'tharavadus'.

Nowadays everything is made easy with our gadgets. Not to mention the food processor. I wonder how those old ladies had so much time to do all these from scratch while we have scarcely any free time even with all our sophisticated gadgets! It was my mom who showed me how to make 'andipputtu' in a mixer grinder / food processor. It is quite easy.

To get that authentic taste of home roasted cashews, dry roast the nuts in a cast iron wok, till they turn slightly brown and aromatic, stirring constantly on medium heat.
Here is how you make it....

Dry roast the nuts in a cast iron wok on medium heat, stirring constantly to ensure even roasting. Remove from heat when slightly brown and aroma comes out. Spread on to a wide tray to cool completely.

Melt jaggery with 1/2 a cup of water and strain it into a bowl to cool. You can increase or decrease the amount of jaggery according to how sweet you want the 'puttus'.

Wash the rice properly and drain. Roast it in a wok stirring from time to time on medium heat until all the rice is slightly brown and puffed up (about 20 min). Remove from heat and spread on a wide tray to cool completely.

Pulse the cashew nuts and roasted rice grains together in a food processor or mixer-grinder, until fine powder.(It is better to pulse the roasted rice first until very fine powder and then add nuts and pulse again) Transfer to a big bowl and add grated coconut.Mix well. Pulse the mixture again in the food processor for a few seconds until everything is blended well..Transfer to the bowl again.

Add cooled melted jaggery little by little into the mixture and mix with a fork until you can roll it to balls.

Roll the dough into small balls of the size of lemon using both palms.Store in air tight containers. Keep well up to two weeks in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

5 comments:

Drinking lots of water is cure for almost every illness, I thought the doc should know! :P Many of us get all sorts of illnesses because we don't drink water... I always feel that because of the amount of water I drink (almost 3 liters a day), I am Alhamdulillah fine!!! These Andiputtu brings in a lot of memories... my umma's aunty used to make us sit at her house for many hours and make it fresh for us... nice and warm... we used to get late to home with vellippa at the door with his face all red, because it would already be night!!! hehe.,.. thank u for sharing the recipe... would love to make this for the kids some time...

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About Me

I am an enthusiast in trying out new recipes, obsessed with perfecting traditional dishes and a hardcore admirer of good food.. Being a mother of three kids, I have all the reasons in the world to try out yummy recipes from around the globe..

What is special about this blog

This space is a humble attempt at compiling my culinary adventures in Kerala recipes, Indian recipes and beyond... You would often find a nostalgic touch to the dishes I cook up.. that's how I feel about homely food. Somewhere somehow I would have wandered away from traditional recipes and made my own innovations.. I wouldn't advice you to strictly follow by the exact amount of spices and ingredients as such. U can make your own alterations based on your taste and tolerance to spices..